Dubai, United Arab Emirates — French President Emmanuel Macron is set to deliver his annual New Year’s Eve speech on Friday afternoon, hours after the country confirmed the Omicron variant as the dominant strain, amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Government data released late Thursday revealed that over 60% of coronavirus tests matched the Omicron variant.
Although the variant accounted for a mere 15% of total cases mid-December, recent holiday gatherings propelled its spread, leading to a rise in infections.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran stated that Omicron cases double every two to three days, noting that France recorded a record-breaking 208,000 coronavirus cases within 24 hours on Wednesday.
He characterized the situation, saying, “The figures are leaving us breathless.”
Earlier this month, French ministers reinforced travel restrictions on the UK, citing concerns over the spread of Omicron.
However, on Thursday, the French Ministry of the Interior announced that British citizens who are EU residents would be allowed to transit through France during the holiday period.
To curb the spread of the Omicron variant, France introduced a new “vaccine certificate” system, replacing the previous “health certificate,” which could be obtained by providing a negative Covid test instead of proof of vaccination.
The new system will be implemented from January 15 in restaurants and on certain public transport in the country.
President Macron vowed to tighten restrictions on the unvaccinated but fell short of making vaccination compulsory.
Emmanuel Macron was also found in other search results. He used blunt language, which caused a stir regarding France’s unvaccinated people. The government stood up for his use of comments referring to people not vaccinated. The statement caused a new debate for the Covid law. [[2]]
Additionally, another instance of Macron used a phrase that would translate to ‘piss off’ unvaccinated individuals, as France recorded the highest number of daily infections, which was 332,252. [[3]]
There is also another definition of Macron which is unrelated to Emmanuel Macron. Macron is a diacritic mark that is a straight bar placed above a letter, usually a vowel. It gets its name from the Ancient Greek word “makrón,” which means long. [[1]]
